Some common dyslexia characteristics in children
The items suggested below are some of the characteristics exhibited by children with dyslexia. Not all of them will be present in any one person but some of them may have been noted by parent(s) or teacher(s). 

Behaviour, Memory and Speech Difficulties

• Daydreams or drifts off into own private world
  Forgets easily, particularly recent things but may have a good memory for things which happened a long time ago

• Finds it difficult to deal with more than one instruction at a time

• Extremes in mood

• Little sense of time - difficulty in learning days of the week, months of the year, multiplication tables

• Can be very stubborn

• Can be quiet, withdrawn and anxious

• Doesn’t like change

• Has tantrums

• Easily distracted

• Intolerant of noise or may work better against background noise

• Appears not to listen or hear what is said

• Some speech sounds may be difficult to make

• Confusion of sounds in speech – f/the/v

• Confusion of syllables in speech – ephalant, sghapetti

• May lack co-ordination and spill things or knock things over

• May have allergies

• May have stress related illnesses

Reading

• Cannot master reading at all or mastered it very late

• Can read to self but “out loud” makes lots of mistakes

• Can read stories but has problems with exam questions and anything technical

• Can read perfectly but doesn’t get much meaning from what has been read

• Needs to re-read to make sense

• Skips lines

• Loses place on a line or has difficulty finding next line

• Dislikes reading and tries to avoid it

• Starts OK but gets progressively worse

• Reverses syllables or words

• Can read a word on one page and misread the same word on another

• Halting, laborious reading

Handwriting

• Handwriting may be illegible

• Handwriting legible only if very slow

• Cramped, awkward pencil hold

• Uneven letter size and poor spacing of letters and/or words

• Difficulties joining letters, writing on a line or sticking to a margin

• Letters formed strangely to disguise spelling problems

• Writing process highly stressful and very tiring.

Spelling

• Words spelt as they sound

• Bizarre spelling producing unrecognisable words

• Omissions and/or additions of letters, syllables and words

• Letters reversed “hepl” for “help”

• Adherence to phonic spelling

• Spellings rote learnt for tests but can’t then apply them in writing

•  

Writing composition

• Writing disorganised and writer gets lost in the process

• Difficulties knowing how to start

• Sentences muddled

• Content pictured as a whole but unable to get it down sequentially

• Thoughts too fast for pen

• Small words missed or used wrongly

• Frequent crossings out

• Writer can’t see mistakes

• Finds writing is so frustrating, it will be avoided where possible

• Finds writing is a slow process and may involve many drafts if despair doesn’t set it first.

Punctuation

• Punctuation is not used at all

• Some punctuation is used but is not understood

• Writer has no sense of where the marks should go

• When reading, punctuation marks are omitted, ignored or not seen

Maths

• May be excellent at maths

• May find all of maths difficult

• Cannot grasp what is required from the maths question

• Loses track when following procedures e.g. long multiplication

• Directional difficulties e.g. instead of going from right to left with addition, subtraction and multiplication, will work the other way

• Gets muddled between maths symbols

• Difficulties learning times tables
  Problems with place value (hundreds, tens and units)

• Reverses numbers

• Makes many small mistakes

• Finds mental maths difficult because the sum “goes” before the calculation is complete

• Can get the answers but can’t show the workings out.

Talents

• Often gets on well with adults

• Can be good at problem solving

• Shows talents in such areas as design, computing, acting etc.

• Can be very good at sport

• Can be good at art

• Can be good at 3-dimensional puzzles, games and toys

• Often highly intuitive and perceptive

• Very curious about how things work

• Highly aware of environment and often notices details

• Thinks in an original way

• Vivid imagination